Update | 3 p.m. Monday
The Coast Guard is still searching for Troy Smart and Timothy Staples whose 16-foot skiff capsized near the southern end of Gravina Island sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Smart, 45 and Staples, 38 are from Metlakatla according to the Alaska State Troopers.
Coast Guard Lt. Jennifer Ferreira said the Coast Guard Cutter Maple was sent to help with the search.
“We have a response boat-medium from Station Ketchikan searching,” Ferreira said. “There’s a Jayhawk helicopter also from Sitka. The fire department from Metlakatla is involved in searching and Ketchikan’s volunteer rescue squad is doing shoreside searches as well.”
Lt. Ferreira said the Coast Guard has not decided how long they will keep searching, but she said they will discuss that.
Original Story | 11:30 p.m. Sunday
The Coast Guard is searching for two men whose 16-foot skiff capsized near the southern end of Gravina Island sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Petty Officer Bill Colclough said two helicopter crews from Air Station Sitka and two boat crews from Coast Guard Station Ketchikan are conducting the search.
“So right now Coast Guard crews are saturating (a) search area of about 200 miles that encompasses Nichols Passage and Tongass Narrows, as well as the entrance to George and Carol Inlets, Colclough said. “Again, with two helicopter crews and two boat crews to locate the two men.”
Colclough did not have the names of the two missing men or the towns they are from, but he said they were 45 and 38 years old. He said they left Mountain Point near Ketchikan either late Saturday or early Sunday.
The fiancée of one of the men expected them to arrive at Cowboys Camp on Annette Island shortly after their departure.
When they didn’t make it on time, she called the Coast Guard.
Colclough said, “We’re searching throughout the night and the Coast Guard Cutter Maple is expected to arrive on scene tomorrow morning, and they will be conducting search efforts throughout the day.”
He said the Coast Guard was able to make a quick response because they were called shortly after the men went missing.
He added that having information about the vessel, the time and place of departure and the location they were trying to reach is critical in a search and rescue.
Colclough doesn’t know what caused the vessel to capsize but he said it will be investigated.
